Information Held on the UK Electoral Register

The Use of Voter Details from the Electoral Roll

Jan 1, 2009

With identity theft on the rise, people are increasingly concerned about the availability of their personal information, including that held on the electoral register.

Each year, all local councils carry out an annual canvas from mid-August, when a form is sent to each residential property in England and Wales. Every household in the country is legally obliged to complete this form with the full names of every resident over the age of 16.

It is a common misapprehension that there is a centrally held, complete version of the electoral register, also known as the electoral roll. In actual fact, each local authority is responsible for maintaining the local electoral roll. This is available in two versions: the full electoral register and the edited electoral register.

Full Electoral Register

The full electoral register contains the names and addresses of all those who are registered to vote. The use of this register is restricted to electoral purposes, crime prevention and detection and credit referencing.

Banks and credit referencing agencies use the details held on this register to prevent fraud. Failure to register to vote may result in difficulties in opening a bank account obtaining credit. Anyone who is not registered to vote may also find that this adversely affects their credit rating.

The full electoral register is only available to view in the local council electoral registration office as a hard copy. This version is not for sale and is not available to search online.

Edited Electoral Register

The second version of the electoral register is the edited version. This is available to purchase by anyone and is frequently used for marketing purposes.

The voter registration form does give registrants the opportunity to opt-out of the edited version. Many people, however, are unaware of that their details may be sold if they do not opt-out of the edited electoral register. Failure to do so can therefore result in unsolicited approaches and junk mail from companies who purchase this information.

Anyone looking for long-lost friends and relatives may find the information held on the edited register to be of great help. There are a number of companies who make the details of the edited electoral register available to search online, for a small fee. This makes searching for people easier, as a search of the full register requires a visit to the local council electoral registration office, and therefore knowledge of the area where the person being searched for lives.

It is important to register to vote in order to have a say in the future of the country and to prevent adverse credit. Opting-out of the edited version will also preserve privacy while conferring these benefits.

The copyright of the article Information Held on the UK Electoral Register in British/UK Affairs is owned by Sarah V Reid. Permission to republish Information Held on the UK Electoral Register in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.